Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 90 Different nationalities make a world of difference

Chen Ran learned from the subsequent chat that Youzhini is now 21 years old, ranked 17th in the world, and is the No. 3 seed in this tournament.

Even though the other party is so young, he has actually won a lot of hard honors.

In the 2002 season, Youzhny won the Stuttgart Open championship and the St. Petersburg Open runner-up. Both events were ATP250 level.

Similarly, Youzhny has also performed well in the four Grand Slams, reaching the top [-] at Wimbledon.

To be precise, Youzhini is a player between the quasi-first-rate and the second-rate in the world.

"This Chinese is so young!" From Youzhini's perspective, he was also a little surprised by Chen Ran's age.

When he was this age, he was still involved in various hope competitions.

As a result, the two stood at opposite ends of the court holding rackets and began a head-to-head discussion.

boom!
Youzhini's powerful shot flew past at full speed, and Chen Ran also found his footing early and was in place early.

Nice serve!
Chen Ran stepped forward and swung the racket with his forehand, pulling the parabola of the return ball very high. The landing point was on the right side of the no-man's land on the opposite side, only ten centimeters away from the baseline.

This high-quality return of serve made Youzhini's return action a little awkward.

Chen Ran immediately seized this opportunity and completed the score with a crisp smash.

Hey~
The one who exclaimed was Chen Ran's physical trainer Sergey.

"Chen, your service receiving level seems to have improved again."

Chen Ran gently threw up the racket and turned it, and said with a smile: "Coach, since you took charge, I have never played against a real professional player, and you don't understand my service receiving level."

"I've seen videos of your previous matches!" Sergey retorted, "You never broke serve in Isner's serve game."

"Isner is a cannon in serving. My ability to win the tie-break proves my ability to receive serve." Chen Ran defended.

Perhaps Lao Maozi's character is just so rotten, and the facts he has determined are difficult to change easily.

Sergey still insisted that Chen Ran's service receiving level has made great progress during these days.

For the remaining two hours, Chen Ran and Youzhini have been practicing with each other to maintain their competitive state.

The two sides go back and forth, constantly exchanging offense and defense. While testing each other's strength, they also have reservations about their own true strength.

In the remaining days, Chen Ran continued to train with Youzhini.

After observing for a period of time, he also found that this old man was still quite aloof and cold. He didn't talk much. It could be said that he cherished his words like gold.

Even though the opponent had already won one championship and one first place at such a young age, his mood was not high and he seemed a little depressed. Occasionally, a worried look would flash across his face.

Although Chen Ran was a little curious, he didn't ask.

His principle is not to worry about other people's private affairs.

But one day, Chen Ran's physical fitness coach Sergey took the initiative to chat about it.

"Chen, where do you think Youzhny's strength ranks among our Russian men's tennis players?"

"Second place?" Chen Ran said without thinking. This was his first reaction.

The No. 1 player in Russian men’s tennis is naturally Safin.
"No, it's just the third person." Sergey spread his hands, feeling helpless, "Chen, you seem to only care about the top players."

Chen Ran also showed a little embarrassment.

When I paid attention to tennis in my previous life, it was the era when the Big Three dominated the tennis world.

In addition to those three, the players whose names can be remembered are basically players who have won Grand Slams, as well as relatively top Asian players, such as Kei Nishikori in his childhood, Sri Chapan of Thailand, and Jung Hyun of South Korea. (It was short-lived, but in the 2018 Australian Open, he swept Djokovic 3-0 and entered the semi-finals).

"The second person is Davydenko, currently ranked 12th in the world." Sergey said honestly.Chen Ran had almost no impression of this name. Frankly speaking, he didn't care about the world rankings at all.

Sampras, who is ranked first, is about to retire, Agassi, who is ranked second, has already faded into the sunset, Hewitt, who is ranked third, is just a short-lived shooting star, and Safin, who is ranked fourth, will not be brilliant for long.

Federer, who is only slightly famous now, is about to skyrocket.

Therefore, today's world rankings have no reference value.

What Chen Ran is most concerned about is how much his ranking can be improved.

"You know, tennis is a winner-takes-all sport, and this is no exception in Russia."

Sergey explained slowly: "In Russia, Safin won all the attention, and the remaining little attention went to Davydenko."

"And Youzhny is obviously one of the top [-] players in the world, but not many people pay attention to him, and he has no endorsements. He can only live on bonuses."

"Of course, the economy in Russia is not very good now. I came to work in China to earn more money."

Chen Ran also knew this.

China's economy will take off in the next 20 years, while Russia's economy has been very sluggish. Even a large number of Mao girls have come to China to hunt for gold, and many of them are even engaged in some ancient industries.

"Youzhini was jealous of Sri Chapan. The two were obviously about the same strength, but as a result, he earned dozens of times more money than he did."

"Later Youzhini practiced with players from his childhood. The opponent's ranking was clearly outside the top 100, but he actually had advertising endorsements, corporate sponsorships, and earned more than him. I felt a little disappointed."

"Then..." Sergey looked at Chen Ran with a look of helplessness, "He met you, and you actually have two endorsements besides being ranked 300 in the world. I felt even more disappointed."

"So there is another reason for me?"

When Chen Ran heard this, he couldn't laugh or cry.

In fact, there are many rich people in Russia, such as the owners of football clubs or basketball clubs, who spend money very generously.

However, tennis players do not have a club model and must be responsible for their own profits and losses. If they cannot achieve outstanding results, it will be very difficult.

"Chen, come and practice!"

Youzhini saw that Chen Ran had been chatting endlessly with Sergey, and had to shout loudly.

What's there to talk about with an uncle?She's not that kind of charming beauty.

"Here we come!" Chen Ran walked to the court again, carrying the racket.

Disappointed, this guy still hits the ball very hard every time.

Chen Ran felt the huge force coming from the racket and used the force to give a sharp counterattack.

He can understand the other person's loss.

Just like Kei Nishikori in his childhood, he barely reached the threshold of a first-class player, but his peak income exceeded the world's number one Djokovic.

Chen Ran began to look forward to his future.

China's future market potential cannot be compared to what it was in its early days.

Then our Chinese nationality is much more high-end than our small life.

……

　Thanks to Maxim Xiaomianqiu for the tip

　　
　
(End of this chapter)